My dear friend Liz has made an incredible point. We idolize television, movies, entertainment because it enables us to passively waste our time and to not put our hearts out there and love people. Liz told me that she sees television taking away our ability to love, and if we're making it our idol, then that is true.
I know it's true in my own life, because I feel so much more free, more alive in the summers when I'm working at camp, in the woods, no electronic nonsense to interfere with my friendships [which develop so much more deeply and quickly there than anywhere else] or my spiritual growth. Then, I come back to Kutztown and am satisfied [well, not really, just too passive to argue] with spending "quality time" with friends in renting movies and laying around. It's much more difficult in winter, I suppose, when calling up folks for a game of Ultimate Frisbee is less probable due to the weather, but when I think back to how many times this semester I gathered with friends for, say, a board game [2 - RISK at P. Nate's house and Apples to Apples at the Cliffs of Insanity], and then I think of the untold instances of settling for passive, unsociable movie-watching [watching football games on television together can still be a social event] - it just breaks my heart that I myself am not loving these people, not putting myself in situations where I'll actually talk to them and get to know them.
Maybe we just live in a society filled with hardened hearts who have no desire to open up to others and to create real friendships.
I guess what I'm saying is that I wanna turn off the idiot box.
high adventure, fearless cooking, insight and humor accumulated throughout a 27-year journey...
17 December 2007
20 November 2007
This Break
This has been quite clearly the most busy and stressful and demanding semester of my life.
I am ecstatic about this five day break from it all, even though I will spend a good chunk of that time revising my history paper, catching up on readings, and putting together my portfolio for my Islamic art class. I also want to be able to catch up with friends a bit, but maybe some 'me time' [and by me I mean JESUS and me] would be more beneficial. The busyness of the past two months has completely drained me spiritually; time for reading God's Word and praying has been snatched out of my sight; and on the way home listening to songs that cry out to Him I could feel wholeness begin to emerge once more. Perhaps I'll spend tomorrow hidden away in my room regaining my ability to worship the Lord.
It's tricky, having to spend soooo much time in the ceramics studio. I do enjoy doing ceramics, but more than 5 hours in the same room can be mind-numbing. I miss being able to play outside all the time like I did in the summer.
The school lifestyle really drags me down physically, too. I get no physical exercise, I become malnourished consuming crappy cafeteria food [since I have no time to go grocery shopping or cook for myself, hah] so spiritually, mentally, physically, I am pretty much in a state of decay.
I know it sounds like I am complaining, but I just want to reiterate my situation before saying again how wonderful this break will be for me. I am so sick of this hardened heart that has developed within me. I'm looking forward to being able to care, to love, and to worship again.
I am ecstatic about this five day break from it all, even though I will spend a good chunk of that time revising my history paper, catching up on readings, and putting together my portfolio for my Islamic art class. I also want to be able to catch up with friends a bit, but maybe some 'me time' [and by me I mean JESUS and me] would be more beneficial. The busyness of the past two months has completely drained me spiritually; time for reading God's Word and praying has been snatched out of my sight; and on the way home listening to songs that cry out to Him I could feel wholeness begin to emerge once more. Perhaps I'll spend tomorrow hidden away in my room regaining my ability to worship the Lord.
It's tricky, having to spend soooo much time in the ceramics studio. I do enjoy doing ceramics, but more than 5 hours in the same room can be mind-numbing. I miss being able to play outside all the time like I did in the summer.
The school lifestyle really drags me down physically, too. I get no physical exercise, I become malnourished consuming crappy cafeteria food [since I have no time to go grocery shopping or cook for myself, hah] so spiritually, mentally, physically, I am pretty much in a state of decay.
I know it sounds like I am complaining, but I just want to reiterate my situation before saying again how wonderful this break will be for me. I am so sick of this hardened heart that has developed within me. I'm looking forward to being able to care, to love, and to worship again.
28 August 2007
So begins another sub-chapter...
Crushed fragments of a stoneware mug lie on my desk and remind me of what an incredible summer I had. Today was the first full day of classes in the second-to-last semester for the class of 2008 at Kutztown University. 9 months from now looms the dark cloud of what many call the "real world." And that's something I intend to avoid for as long as possible. So, for now, from August to December of this year, THIS will be known as the "fun semester." What adventures these 4 months hold are yet unknown, and that excites me.
Today I rode a bicycle for the first time in two years. I also joined a friend in eating ridiculously old coffee beans. They tasted like old. They'd been in the same spot since at least my freshman year. Yesterday the 102 girls created the beginnings of our personal menagerie: 2 fish, F. Pauly Shore and Javi Hoff [yes, both partially named after our university's president]
and a golden mystery snail, Toshare. Let me tell you, that snail is wicked awesome!!
Question: does God still use dreams to speak to people, like He did Joseph? Should I be wondering what He's trying to say through the dreams I have been having over the past 6 months?
I've been praying and waiting and waiting and praying for something big. Praying big in expectation of big results. However, the anticipation has been killing me!!! I really hope the Lord allows this change in my life soon, so I can relax about this!
On my plate for the semester: Cornerstone college group leadership stuff, SENIOR ceramics major duties [run. the. shop.], get a job??, spending the most time possible with my very best of friends, culinary adventures - making sandwiches and beyond!
Today I rode a bicycle for the first time in two years. I also joined a friend in eating ridiculously old coffee beans. They tasted like old. They'd been in the same spot since at least my freshman year. Yesterday the 102 girls created the beginnings of our personal menagerie: 2 fish, F. Pauly Shore and Javi Hoff [yes, both partially named after our university's president]
and a golden mystery snail, Toshare. Let me tell you, that snail is wicked awesome!!
Question: does God still use dreams to speak to people, like He did Joseph? Should I be wondering what He's trying to say through the dreams I have been having over the past 6 months?
I've been praying and waiting and waiting and praying for something big. Praying big in expectation of big results. However, the anticipation has been killing me!!! I really hope the Lord allows this change in my life soon, so I can relax about this!
On my plate for the semester: Cornerstone college group leadership stuff, SENIOR ceramics major duties [run. the. shop.], get a job??, spending the most time possible with my very best of friends, culinary adventures - making sandwiches and beyond!
18 May 2007
Deliver us
Who built the pyramids? The Egyptians?
They usually receive the credit, right?
Weren't their Israelite slaves the ones building everything in their empire, while the Egyptians themselves cracked their whips upon the slaves' backs?
The Prince of Egypt opens with the Hebrew's song of lament, "Deliver Us". It wrenches the heart with its cry for mercy and freedom. And we feel a righteous wrath against the oppressors. We are thankful for America's call to emancipation and that we enslave no more.
Or do we? What products are we buying that were sewn together by 8 year old children in a sweatshop? How can we keep ourselves accountable for what we buy?
The Dalit of India have been living in oppression since longer than Christianity has existed. The Hindu religion has set in place a caste system that calls them the "untouchables" - they are regarded as less than animals. Once you are born into that caste, you cannot get out of it. Dalit must beg for water at the well from others, for they are not allowed to touch and "contaminate" it.
When will slavery really end?
What can we do to prevent it from happening now? Is there a way to keep track of what brands oppress their factory workers and what brands don't? I'd hate to pay $100 for a pair of boots and know that $100 was going to some fat, rich, white, American guy than the $100 going to the small girl in Guatemala who sewed them together for me.
I just got a new pair of boots. The company's website has 3 entire mission statements about their efforts to eliminate pollution, to boost the welfare of communities, and to treat all their workers fairly. I don't know if you can look into these things for all companies [I'm sure the bad ones keep their practices very secret], but I'm asking you to look into it if you can. It's good to look out for others, even if there's no chance of you ever meeting them in this life. :-)
They usually receive the credit, right?
Weren't their Israelite slaves the ones building everything in their empire, while the Egyptians themselves cracked their whips upon the slaves' backs?
The Prince of Egypt opens with the Hebrew's song of lament, "Deliver Us". It wrenches the heart with its cry for mercy and freedom. And we feel a righteous wrath against the oppressors. We are thankful for America's call to emancipation and that we enslave no more.
Or do we? What products are we buying that were sewn together by 8 year old children in a sweatshop? How can we keep ourselves accountable for what we buy?
The Dalit of India have been living in oppression since longer than Christianity has existed. The Hindu religion has set in place a caste system that calls them the "untouchables" - they are regarded as less than animals. Once you are born into that caste, you cannot get out of it. Dalit must beg for water at the well from others, for they are not allowed to touch and "contaminate" it.
When will slavery really end?
What can we do to prevent it from happening now? Is there a way to keep track of what brands oppress their factory workers and what brands don't? I'd hate to pay $100 for a pair of boots and know that $100 was going to some fat, rich, white, American guy than the $100 going to the small girl in Guatemala who sewed them together for me.
I just got a new pair of boots. The company's website has 3 entire mission statements about their efforts to eliminate pollution, to boost the welfare of communities, and to treat all their workers fairly. I don't know if you can look into these things for all companies [I'm sure the bad ones keep their practices very secret], but I'm asking you to look into it if you can. It's good to look out for others, even if there's no chance of you ever meeting them in this life. :-)
09 May 2007
Ugh, I feel like a pond that is small and ancient and stagnant. Somewhat pleasing to look at, but also eerie, and uninviting for naked toes.
I have stagnated my most important relationship within the past two weeks. I've barely talked to him. I haven't listened to him at all. I sang to him last night, a few of us including he had a great conversation for about 20 minutes by the fountain that cascades, but after that I probably ignored everything he said.
I have stagnated my most important relationship within the past two weeks. I've barely talked to him. I haven't listened to him at all. I sang to him last night, a few of us including he had a great conversation for about 20 minutes by the fountain that cascades, but after that I probably ignored everything he said.
01 May 2007
Church
It has been brought to my attention that there are some ecclesiastical issues that must be handled. The church I've been attending for the past 3 years [and have recently joined as an associate member] is one of evangelism. This body of Christ can be quite welcoming and encourages members and regular attendees to invite many, especially nonbelievers. This is good. Jesus said, "Go and make disciples of all nations..." However, what about keeping the ones you've got in the faith?
I have seen, and others feel this way, that our church hooks people in and then leaves them floating around, not being challenged or shepherded properly. A person should not have to ask to be discipled; those more mature in their walk with the Lord should seek out younger Christians to help them along their journeys. A friend told me that he hasn't been to this church in 5 weeks, and no one has called him to ask him where he's been or how he's been. This concerns me.
To expand upon the "Great Commission" at the end of the book of Matthew:
"Go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you."
Jesus taught a lot of things. His sermons and teachings make up most of the text in the Gospels. Can a church support its members and its believers without continuing to teach? He asked to make disciples, not just believers.
disciple: n. 1. religion
a. one of the 12 personal followers of Christ.
b. one of the 70 followers sent forth by Christ. Luke 10:1.
c. any other professed follower of Christ in His lifetime.
2. any follower of Christ.
3. a person who is a pupil or an adherent of the doctrines of another.
v. 4. to convert into a disciple.
5. to teach, to train.
If someone is not being taught or trained, and not being a pupil, are we truly making disciples? Converting people is not the same as making disciples, and I feel like this church has strayed from that original concept. If we are not continually growing and developing godly hearts and wisdomy minds, this is an opportunity for wickedness to enter. We must keep each other on track with our faith.
Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. - Matthew 24:12-13
For one's love to grow cold is an ugly thing. For one to lose zeal for the Lord and for His Word and to become lazy in caring about growing is an ugly thing. I have dealt with times like that myself, and when I drift away, I become physically unhealthy/exhausted, I have a worse work ethic, I am not as confident or friendly with others, and I'm simply less caring. I have seen firsthand the effects of walking away from God and it is simply an ugly thing. Our Father made us to be beautiful just as we are, as lovers and worshippers and as sons and daughters of Him, and if we have the desire to walk away from that, or if we have no desire to seek that, what could it do but break His heart?
We must persist in our faith. We must persevere. We can't let anyone, not Satan, not our own flesh, not the world try to tear us from our loving and perfect Father. We can't let ourselves, our doubts, our anger tear us apart from Him. He loves us too much to let us go. He let His own only begotten Son go in our place.
"For I am convinced that neither life nor death, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." - Romans 8:38-39
How can we ignore so great a salvation? It is so wonderful to be loved by God! Therefore we can't just ignore Him or be angry for the petty "bad things" in our lives. We complain because it's raining, because school is hard, because of family problems, because of friendships gone wrong. They are nothing compared to the problems of Ugandan children who fear being abducted every single night to be forced into being child soldiers for a terrible army of rebels who kill civilians and whose actions force the Ugandan governments to put their people into displacement camps without food, or clean water, where malaria kills more people than AIDS. And even in comparison with their troubles, "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us." [Romans 8:18] When we're with the Lord in heaven some day, we won't even remember our diseases, frustrations and hardships because it will be SO GOOD!!!
This is why I wish the church would focus more on building intimate relationships within the family of God, focus on growing these disciples closer to Him in a more trusting relationship with an eternity focus on life. Paul says best in my favourite book:
In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." - Philippians 1:4-6
And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God. - Philippians 1:9-11
I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. - Philippians 3:12-14
I have seen, and others feel this way, that our church hooks people in and then leaves them floating around, not being challenged or shepherded properly. A person should not have to ask to be discipled; those more mature in their walk with the Lord should seek out younger Christians to help them along their journeys. A friend told me that he hasn't been to this church in 5 weeks, and no one has called him to ask him where he's been or how he's been. This concerns me.
To expand upon the "Great Commission" at the end of the book of Matthew:
"Go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you."
Jesus taught a lot of things. His sermons and teachings make up most of the text in the Gospels. Can a church support its members and its believers without continuing to teach? He asked to make disciples, not just believers.
disciple: n. 1. religion
a. one of the 12 personal followers of Christ.
b. one of the 70 followers sent forth by Christ. Luke 10:1.
c. any other professed follower of Christ in His lifetime.
2. any follower of Christ.
3. a person who is a pupil or an adherent of the doctrines of another.
v. 4. to convert into a disciple.
5. to teach, to train.
If someone is not being taught or trained, and not being a pupil, are we truly making disciples? Converting people is not the same as making disciples, and I feel like this church has strayed from that original concept. If we are not continually growing and developing godly hearts and wisdomy minds, this is an opportunity for wickedness to enter. We must keep each other on track with our faith.
Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. - Matthew 24:12-13
For one's love to grow cold is an ugly thing. For one to lose zeal for the Lord and for His Word and to become lazy in caring about growing is an ugly thing. I have dealt with times like that myself, and when I drift away, I become physically unhealthy/exhausted, I have a worse work ethic, I am not as confident or friendly with others, and I'm simply less caring. I have seen firsthand the effects of walking away from God and it is simply an ugly thing. Our Father made us to be beautiful just as we are, as lovers and worshippers and as sons and daughters of Him, and if we have the desire to walk away from that, or if we have no desire to seek that, what could it do but break His heart?
We must persist in our faith. We must persevere. We can't let anyone, not Satan, not our own flesh, not the world try to tear us from our loving and perfect Father. We can't let ourselves, our doubts, our anger tear us apart from Him. He loves us too much to let us go. He let His own only begotten Son go in our place.
"For I am convinced that neither life nor death, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." - Romans 8:38-39
How can we ignore so great a salvation? It is so wonderful to be loved by God! Therefore we can't just ignore Him or be angry for the petty "bad things" in our lives. We complain because it's raining, because school is hard, because of family problems, because of friendships gone wrong. They are nothing compared to the problems of Ugandan children who fear being abducted every single night to be forced into being child soldiers for a terrible army of rebels who kill civilians and whose actions force the Ugandan governments to put their people into displacement camps without food, or clean water, where malaria kills more people than AIDS. And even in comparison with their troubles, "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us." [Romans 8:18] When we're with the Lord in heaven some day, we won't even remember our diseases, frustrations and hardships because it will be SO GOOD!!!
This is why I wish the church would focus more on building intimate relationships within the family of God, focus on growing these disciples closer to Him in a more trusting relationship with an eternity focus on life. Paul says best in my favourite book:
In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." - Philippians 1:4-6
And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God. - Philippians 1:9-11
I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. - Philippians 3:12-14
ecclesia reformata semper reformanda secundum verbum Dei
30 April 2007
Feelin' down again...
"We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?" - Hebrews 2:1-3
"Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts" - Hebrews 3:7-8
"See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first." - Hebrews 3:12-14
This whole situation is still not getting better. It's affecting my body; I feel a physical weight pushing down on my spine, I feel muscularly weak, and I don't feel like eating at all. And I'm dehydrated.
The weekend, however, was great. Quite a refreshing time to be carefree and adventurous with my dear Wallace. We did a Fountains of UMD tour, trespassed, frolicked [in a special way] through the thunderstorm, and I met some new friends. Saturday was Maryland Day, so campus was v. crowded. We ate Chick fil-A!
That night we slept in cardboard boxes on the Mall by the Washington Monument for Displace Me - a media/awareness event held by Invisible Children [dot com], where they showed us video testimonials of folks in Uganda who are in the displacement camps where the government put them to keep them "safe" from the rebel army. Last year they held a "Global Night Commute" which was basically reenacting what the Ugandan children do every night to avoid being abducted by the rebel army to be made into child soldiers or sex slaves. This year we were made to experience what they deal with in the displacement camps, except we had clean water and no AIDS or malaria. We had a 6-hour fast, and then were only allowed to eat water and saltine crackers. We called people and wrote to congressmen to spread the word in hopes of the U.S. or the U.N. doing something to bring peace to northern Uganda.
The next morning Wallace and I hit up Starbucks before church [how convenient to have one between dorm and campus], which was run by Maryland Christian Fellowship and was cool. We sang a "yee-haw" song.
Directly after lunch we got a call from Horatio, who had come to pick me up. So Wallace and I parted ways again. Hopefully we'll hang out again this summer - when we'll do even more crazy adventure-type things! Whee!!
The drive back with Brandon was good. It didn't even get dark until we got home. We stopped in Philly for supper with Y-von at a place called Brigid's. I got gnocchi in pesto, mm!! It was rather tasty. We also got to see her studio in this church; Ruben Ghenov also works there! How exciting! I hadn't seen Gali since he was a baby; what a cute kid!
I had a somewhat sleepless night, followed by weaving class, geometry quiz, crafts class, geometry class, glazing and then a chat. In some ways, I feel like Paul....
"I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.
And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.
For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do - this I keep on doing.
Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God - through Jesus Christ our Lord!" [Romans 7:15-25]
Thanks be to God indeed. Jesus will rescue me from this body of death. I want my sinful nature to die. I just hate sin so much I want it to be completely gone from my life; separated as far as the East is from the West. I know that I'm forgiven, I just want to sin no more. I won't be pressured into sinning anymore. It just burns a hole in my gut, like too many of those Warhead candies.
And I'm seeking counsel within friends. Sometimes it's hard for me to ask for help, so if you've got wisdom or advice about certain sorts of things, please just pour it upon me. If I'm not in the weaving studio this week, I'll be at the Chris House [need time in the chapel], or my phone is usually on if I'm not in class.
*le sigh*
And I feel like such a b*t*h for complaining about my stupid life problems when 5 year old kids in Uganda are being abducted from their starving, infected families to be forced to carry a gun that weighs nearly as much as they do. How do you feel about that?
oh, and pardon my french.
"Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts" - Hebrews 3:7-8
"See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first." - Hebrews 3:12-14
This whole situation is still not getting better. It's affecting my body; I feel a physical weight pushing down on my spine, I feel muscularly weak, and I don't feel like eating at all. And I'm dehydrated.
The weekend, however, was great. Quite a refreshing time to be carefree and adventurous with my dear Wallace. We did a Fountains of UMD tour, trespassed, frolicked [in a special way] through the thunderstorm, and I met some new friends. Saturday was Maryland Day, so campus was v. crowded. We ate Chick fil-A!
That night we slept in cardboard boxes on the Mall by the Washington Monument for Displace Me - a media/awareness event held by Invisible Children [dot com], where they showed us video testimonials of folks in Uganda who are in the displacement camps where the government put them to keep them "safe" from the rebel army. Last year they held a "Global Night Commute" which was basically reenacting what the Ugandan children do every night to avoid being abducted by the rebel army to be made into child soldiers or sex slaves. This year we were made to experience what they deal with in the displacement camps, except we had clean water and no AIDS or malaria. We had a 6-hour fast, and then were only allowed to eat water and saltine crackers. We called people and wrote to congressmen to spread the word in hopes of the U.S. or the U.N. doing something to bring peace to northern Uganda.
The next morning Wallace and I hit up Starbucks before church [how convenient to have one between dorm and campus], which was run by Maryland Christian Fellowship and was cool. We sang a "yee-haw" song.
Directly after lunch we got a call from Horatio, who had come to pick me up. So Wallace and I parted ways again. Hopefully we'll hang out again this summer - when we'll do even more crazy adventure-type things! Whee!!
The drive back with Brandon was good. It didn't even get dark until we got home. We stopped in Philly for supper with Y-von at a place called Brigid's. I got gnocchi in pesto, mm!! It was rather tasty. We also got to see her studio in this church; Ruben Ghenov also works there! How exciting! I hadn't seen Gali since he was a baby; what a cute kid!
I had a somewhat sleepless night, followed by weaving class, geometry quiz, crafts class, geometry class, glazing and then a chat. In some ways, I feel like Paul....
"I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.
And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.
For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do - this I keep on doing.
Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God - through Jesus Christ our Lord!" [Romans 7:15-25]
Thanks be to God indeed. Jesus will rescue me from this body of death. I want my sinful nature to die. I just hate sin so much I want it to be completely gone from my life; separated as far as the East is from the West. I know that I'm forgiven, I just want to sin no more. I won't be pressured into sinning anymore. It just burns a hole in my gut, like too many of those Warhead candies.
And I'm seeking counsel within friends. Sometimes it's hard for me to ask for help, so if you've got wisdom or advice about certain sorts of things, please just pour it upon me. If I'm not in the weaving studio this week, I'll be at the Chris House [need time in the chapel], or my phone is usually on if I'm not in class.
*le sigh*
And I feel like such a b*t*h for complaining about my stupid life problems when 5 year old kids in Uganda are being abducted from their starving, infected families to be forced to carry a gun that weighs nearly as much as they do. How do you feel about that?
oh, and pardon my french.
22 April 2007
Greatness
How do we rank the level of greatness between one person and the next? What leaders are greater than others? Are inventors ranked by quantity of inventions or by several more impactful ones? I was browsing wikipedia.org [a new favourite pastime of mine] and I ran into two lists. One was the "Greatest American" list, which was compiled in 2005 by the Discovery Channel by taking votes from American viewers. In 1978 the Top 100 "Most Influential Persons" list was published in a book by Michael Hart [b. 1932, NYC].
Here is the beginning of the "Greatest Americans" list:
Here are Michael Hart's top 15 "Most Influential Persons":
This list is the product of one man's research into the history of the world and into the influence that these persons still have in the world today. And how do we define influence? Is Mohammed ranked higher than Jesus because there are more Moslems in the world than Christians today? Should Confucius be ranked higher because his influence is most clearly seen within the country with the highest population?
Many of these men influenced only one area; should the list be broken into certain spheres of influence? Should we group Jesus, Mohammed, Moses, Confucius, Paul, and Buddha together because of their influence on world spirituality and religion; T'sai Lun and Gutenberg together for their impact on world literature; Newton, Galileo, Euclid, and Einstein together for their help in understanding the world around us?
And can we consider chronology as well? T'sai Lun invented paper; several centuries later Gutenberg invented the printing press. Without paper, there would be no need for print, so whose influence is greater? Galileo's work led to Newton's work which led to Einstein's work - whose was more important?
15th century explorer Vasco da Gama was ranked #86 on this list. Do the Portuguese-speaking people of Brasil consider him more important than everyone else on the list? Have we considered that the men on this list may have differing rates of impact geographically?
It seems that my questions might be answered if I were to read this book [which I will probably do at some time within the next...5 years, so I'll do that and see Mr. Hart's opinions on greatness.
Clearly "greatness" is a very subjective matter when speaking about a person's influence. Does one good deed surpass several others on a scale of "greatness?" Perhaps we should each re-arrange these two lists according to our personal tastes and thoughts on these figures' works. Give me your input.
Here is the beginning of the "Greatest Americans" list:
- Ronald Reagan, former President - 24% - named "Greatest American"
- Abraham Lincoln, former President - 23.5%
- Martin Luther King, Jr., civil rights leader - 19.7% - named "Greatest African American"
- George Washington, first President - 17.7%
- Benjamin Franklin, Founding Father and scientist - 14.9%
- George W. Bush, then President - named "Greatest Living American"
- Bill Clinton, former President
- Elvis Presley, singer - named "America's Greatest Entertainer"
- Oprah Winfrey, talk show host - named "Greatest Woman in American history"
- Franklin D. Roosevelt, former President
- Billy Graham, evangelist
- Thomas Jefferson, former President
- Walt Disney, founder of Disney
- Albert Einstein, physicist - named "Greatest American Scientist" and "Greatest Jewish American"
- Thomas Alva Edison, inventor
Here are Michael Hart's top 15 "Most Influential Persons":
| 1 | Muhammad | Founder and main prophet of Islam, conquerer of Arabia, political figure |
| 2 | Isaac Newton | physicist, theory of universal gravitation, laws of motion, major developments in mathematics, optics, thermodynamics |
| 3 | Jesus | central figure of what would become Christianity |
| 4 | Buddha | founder of Buddhism |
| 5 | Confucius | founder of Confucianism |
| 6 | St. Paul | proselytizer of Christianity |
| 7 | Ts'ai Lun | inventor of paper |
| 8 | Johannes Gutenberg | developed movable type and made great advances in printing |
| 9 | Christopher Columbus | explorer, led Europe to the Americas |
| 10 | Albert Einstein | physicist, relativity, Einsteinian physics |
| 11 | Louis Pasteur | scientist, pasteurization, Germ Theory |
| 12 | Galileo Galilei | astronomer, accurately described heliocentric solar system, led way to Newton's work |
| 13 | Aristotle | Greek philosopher |
| 14 | Euclid | Greek mathematician, Euclidean geometry, author of various influential theories |
| 15 | Moses | major prophet of Judaism and leader of Israel |
This list is the product of one man's research into the history of the world and into the influence that these persons still have in the world today. And how do we define influence? Is Mohammed ranked higher than Jesus because there are more Moslems in the world than Christians today? Should Confucius be ranked higher because his influence is most clearly seen within the country with the highest population?
Many of these men influenced only one area; should the list be broken into certain spheres of influence? Should we group Jesus, Mohammed, Moses, Confucius, Paul, and Buddha together because of their influence on world spirituality and religion; T'sai Lun and Gutenberg together for their impact on world literature; Newton, Galileo, Euclid, and Einstein together for their help in understanding the world around us?
And can we consider chronology as well? T'sai Lun invented paper; several centuries later Gutenberg invented the printing press. Without paper, there would be no need for print, so whose influence is greater? Galileo's work led to Newton's work which led to Einstein's work - whose was more important?
15th century explorer Vasco da Gama was ranked #86 on this list. Do the Portuguese-speaking people of Brasil consider him more important than everyone else on the list? Have we considered that the men on this list may have differing rates of impact geographically?
It seems that my questions might be answered if I were to read this book [which I will probably do at some time within the next...5 years, so I'll do that and see Mr. Hart's opinions on greatness.
Clearly "greatness" is a very subjective matter when speaking about a person's influence. Does one good deed surpass several others on a scale of "greatness?" Perhaps we should each re-arrange these two lists according to our personal tastes and thoughts on these figures' works. Give me your input.
21 April 2007
I will sing of Your lovingkindness and of Your righteousness
I HAVE FRIENDS AGAIN!!!!
That is to say, I can finally wear my friendship bracelets once more. I'd taken them off as to avoid their destruction in the pottery, but since this was our last week for wet clay, this is no longer a threat to their existence. I delight in them so much, just thinking of the individuals who made them for me. What a task! To choose colours that represent a friend. ♥ Here are the colours my friends chose:
Megeggan: brown, green, white
Ellen Melon: 'camo' colours; and the second one is 2 shades of green & beige & cream in little ICTUS shapes!
Liz: same colours as Meggegan, different pattern, and with a foam fishie!
K. Seiverling: red, light orange, yellow, & flesh tone
Steph Stroup: exact same colour scheme in a different order [gotta love those LT girls]
Alicia: hot pink, purple & blue
BEN-NETT: morphing green [light to dark], red, yellow; with ventilation slits
Kayla: green & pink
The Sauce: grey & butter yellow
Wallace: red, yellow, orange
Charity: orange, yellow, bright green
Harrison: tan & red
These two have sadly not withstood my roughness, so Chair & Harrison, send me a new one!
This excites me to the possibility of aquiring more of these in the summer. I can't wait for the outdoor, loving, person-space-invading, living-with community of the girls at camp.
However, that's not to say that that's not developing here as well. I've loved growing in relationships with the lovely ladies of the Chris House in the past few weeks. I'm glad that I spend time there; it seems as though when I don't get sufficient Bible/prayer/God communication time in the mornings, I can pop in there after class. It's so good to have that pocket of Christian community in the middle of a secular and crazy campus.
Today there was a fire drill in response to a "bomb scare" at RACC that referenced Kutztown. AND some crazy guy was prancing around the NASA base in Houston with a gun. Of course, all this happens 8 years after the Columbine shooting and on Hitler's birthday and on POT DAY as Kathy keeps reminding us... This world is ridiculous. I can't wait for the King to come back and really clean up our mess. At least His creation out in the pure wilderness is still good.
That is to say, I can finally wear my friendship bracelets once more. I'd taken them off as to avoid their destruction in the pottery, but since this was our last week for wet clay, this is no longer a threat to their existence. I delight in them so much, just thinking of the individuals who made them for me. What a task! To choose colours that represent a friend. ♥ Here are the colours my friends chose:
Megeggan: brown, green, white
Ellen Melon: 'camo' colours; and the second one is 2 shades of green & beige & cream in little ICTUS shapes!
Liz: same colours as Meggegan, different pattern, and with a foam fishie!
K. Seiverling: red, light orange, yellow, & flesh tone
Steph Stroup: exact same colour scheme in a different order [gotta love those LT girls]
Alicia: hot pink, purple & blue
BEN-NETT: morphing green [light to dark], red, yellow; with ventilation slits
Kayla: green & pink
The Sauce: grey & butter yellow
Wallace: red, yellow, orange
Charity: orange, yellow, bright green
Harrison: tan & red
These two have sadly not withstood my roughness, so Chair & Harrison, send me a new one!
This excites me to the possibility of aquiring more of these in the summer. I can't wait for the outdoor, loving, person-space-invading, living-with community of the girls at camp.
However, that's not to say that that's not developing here as well. I've loved growing in relationships with the lovely ladies of the Chris House in the past few weeks. I'm glad that I spend time there; it seems as though when I don't get sufficient Bible/prayer/God communication time in the mornings, I can pop in there after class. It's so good to have that pocket of Christian community in the middle of a secular and crazy campus.
Today there was a fire drill in response to a "bomb scare" at RACC that referenced Kutztown. AND some crazy guy was prancing around the NASA base in Houston with a gun. Of course, all this happens 8 years after the Columbine shooting and on Hitler's birthday and on POT DAY as Kathy keeps reminding us... This world is ridiculous. I can't wait for the King to come back and really clean up our mess. At least His creation out in the pure wilderness is still good.
11 April 2007
Movies
...from Miranda.
Popcorn or candy?
Popcorn is tasty, but I can always go for those sour radioactive worms.
Name a movie you've been meaning to see forever.
Oh, Marie Antoinette, I'd say. There are more that I can't think of at the moment.
You are given the power to recall one Oscar: Who loses theirs and to whom?
2002 Best Picture Award goes to The Lord of the Rings: the Two Towers from stupid ol' Chicago. Grrrr, I'm still bitter about that one.
Steal one costume from a movie for your wardrobe. Which will it be?
Hamish Campbell's kilt!
Your favorite film franchise is...
The entire Lord of the Rings franchise... I'll buy those action figures anyday. And the documentation on the making of the films is even as entertaining as the movie itself!
Invite five movie people over for dinner. Who are they? Why'd you invite them? What do you feed them?
The 4 Hobbits of the Fellowship, plus Bilbo; I'd feed them breakfast, second breakfast, luncheon, afternoon tea, dinner, and supper.
What is the appropriate punishment for people who answer cell phones in the movie theater?
Flush it.
Choose a female bodyguard: Matilda Wormwood
What's the scariest thing you've ever seen in a movie?
Any scene of a woman in labor. Sheesh.
Your favorite genre (excluding comedy and drama) is?
Old-type war movies are the best, and by old-type I mean anything American Civil War and prior. I like swords.
Least favorite genre: Seabiscuit.
You are given the power to greenlight movies at a major studio for one year. How do you wield this power? I would want to direct a movie about my summer camp, to prove that all the movie summer camps are weirdly unreal. Honestly, who makes their campers wear uniforms? Plus, movie bears only come when a kid is tied to a tree or something... bears come every day in real life!
Popcorn or candy?
Popcorn is tasty, but I can always go for those sour radioactive worms.
Name a movie you've been meaning to see forever.
Oh, Marie Antoinette, I'd say. There are more that I can't think of at the moment.
You are given the power to recall one Oscar: Who loses theirs and to whom?
2002 Best Picture Award goes to The Lord of the Rings: the Two Towers from stupid ol' Chicago. Grrrr, I'm still bitter about that one.
Steal one costume from a movie for your wardrobe. Which will it be?
Hamish Campbell's kilt!
Your favorite film franchise is...
The entire Lord of the Rings franchise... I'll buy those action figures anyday. And the documentation on the making of the films is even as entertaining as the movie itself!
Invite five movie people over for dinner. Who are they? Why'd you invite them? What do you feed them?
The 4 Hobbits of the Fellowship, plus Bilbo; I'd feed them breakfast, second breakfast, luncheon, afternoon tea, dinner, and supper.
What is the appropriate punishment for people who answer cell phones in the movie theater?
Flush it.
Choose a female bodyguard: Matilda Wormwood
What's the scariest thing you've ever seen in a movie?
Any scene of a woman in labor. Sheesh.
Your favorite genre (excluding comedy and drama) is?
Old-type war movies are the best, and by old-type I mean anything American Civil War and prior. I like swords.
Least favorite genre: Seabiscuit.
You are given the power to greenlight movies at a major studio for one year. How do you wield this power? I would want to direct a movie about my summer camp, to prove that all the movie summer camps are weirdly unreal. Honestly, who makes their campers wear uniforms? Plus, movie bears only come when a kid is tied to a tree or something... bears come every day in real life!
09 April 2007
past week
this is what's up!
"holy week", 2007: they call it "holy" 'cause it's the passover week, the final week of Jesus' ministry leading up to the resurrection. this is what it looked like for Him:
sunday - "triumphal entry" into Jerusalem, riding on a donkey with palm leaves laid before His path. we call this "palm sunday"
monday through wednesday - teaching 'n' preaching 'n' healing!
thursday - feet-washing and dinner and the breaking of bread and pouring of wine in reference to His death with the disciples. "last supper" / "maundy thursday"
friday - arrested in the garden [1-2 am-ish?], tried, flogged, mocked, crucified, died, buried. "good friday"
saturday -
sunday - arisen!! alive! miraculously scaring the daylights out of the women in the garden!
sadly i didn't do much to observe this in my own week. this is what it looked like:
sunday- discipleship sermon at church, baptism. lunch with brandon & the stitt family.
monday- skool
tuesday- class & chillin', home group dinner, 'james' Bible study @ chris house
wednesday- skool; skipped 2 classes to do homework for 1 class during which we played "heads-up 7-up". snuck out of ceramics early. applebee's dinner for elliott's birthday with josh q., tara, bridget, will, amanda, angie, and brandon.
thursday- relax! trip to cabela's resulting in being at triple-a all day for brandon. dinner at the peanut bar in reading for elliott's birthday [cool french waiter!]
friday- sleep in & read! another brandon day, ending with wonderful pizza for dinner.
sunday- church in camp hill. last time we'll hear that organ! brunch, lazy afternoon, big honkin' dinner. penndot traffic on drive back. svu & bed.
today- sleep in late! olive garden lunch & hackmans --> glory revealed cd purchase for me. :-) visit to guitar center [taylors --> drool] and later chuck e. cheese for rusty's birthday with sarah, josh, and mr. alex of the new york giants.
think i'll brush my teeth now.
"holy week", 2007: they call it "holy" 'cause it's the passover week, the final week of Jesus' ministry leading up to the resurrection. this is what it looked like for Him:
sunday - "triumphal entry" into Jerusalem, riding on a donkey with palm leaves laid before His path. we call this "palm sunday"
monday through wednesday - teaching 'n' preaching 'n' healing!
thursday - feet-washing and dinner and the breaking of bread and pouring of wine in reference to His death with the disciples. "last supper" / "maundy thursday"
friday - arrested in the garden [1-2 am-ish?], tried, flogged, mocked, crucified, died, buried. "good friday"
saturday -
sunday - arisen!! alive! miraculously scaring the daylights out of the women in the garden!
sadly i didn't do much to observe this in my own week. this is what it looked like:
sunday- discipleship sermon at church, baptism. lunch with brandon & the stitt family.
monday- skool
tuesday- class & chillin', home group dinner, 'james' Bible study @ chris house
wednesday- skool; skipped 2 classes to do homework for 1 class during which we played "heads-up 7-up". snuck out of ceramics early. applebee's dinner for elliott's birthday with josh q., tara, bridget, will, amanda, angie, and brandon.
thursday- relax! trip to cabela's resulting in being at triple-a all day for brandon. dinner at the peanut bar in reading for elliott's birthday [cool french waiter!]
friday- sleep in & read! another brandon day, ending with wonderful pizza for dinner.
sunday- church in camp hill. last time we'll hear that organ! brunch, lazy afternoon, big honkin' dinner. penndot traffic on drive back. svu & bed.
today- sleep in late! olive garden lunch & hackmans --> glory revealed cd purchase for me. :-) visit to guitar center [taylors --> drool] and later chuck e. cheese for rusty's birthday with sarah, josh, and mr. alex of the new york giants.
think i'll brush my teeth now.
19 February 2007
14 February 2007
Blogger is the new Xanga?
It is snowing furiously right now, and it looks simply stunning. A miracle occured between 6 and 7 this morning when the University chose to cancel classes rather than going with the two-hour delay - a sound decision on their part, I thought, because the way that ice was falling I'd feared our faces would've been torn off completely. Now it is a hard, yet quiet-falling cloud of flakes filling the air across campus. I tried opening our front door, but it wouldn't budge past 3 inches because of the cumulation of ice on the doorstep. So now I'm in pyjamas, sipping water from my Nalgene and sucking on Wilbur Buds.
They're these fascinating little candies that Missy and Allie have been selling to raise money to go to the big English majors' conference in Pittsburgh next month. These two had claimed that Wilbur Buds were better than Hershey Kisses, but I am not so sure of that. They're smaller and denser, and the machine squeezes the chocolate into little moulds that spell out WILBUR around the bottom, rather than kissing the conveyor belt to create the flat-bottomed Hershey's version. Now the dark chocolate Buds are quite tasty, and because of the density of the candy, it lasts a bit longer than a Kiss. However, the milk chocolate Buds have a sort of weird aftertaste that I don't so much care for, so Hershey wins there as well. Again, Kisses are larger, but less dense [I suppose they whip the chocolate more], and I have my loyalties to Hershey since they have provided me with many a free fun-size sample at Chocolate World over the years.
So apart from some relaxation and reading, I might like to go out and enjoy the beautiful weather - provided it doesn't begin sleeting again, of course. Perhaps Father John will open the House today and we can congregate for games and hot drinks and hopefully a decent dinner [if Ed can't make it, do we fend for ourselves?].
I had been thinking how much my brain has been able to rot since college has began. I am slightly jealous of Allie and Missy, being straight English majors, for all they do is read and write and expand their minds and their vocabularies. Although I've enjoyed the Crafts major tract, it hasn't done much to keep my noggin sharp. The only for-school reading I've done in the past 3 years has been textbook selections - mostly of art history. Outside of assignments, most of the reading I've done has been Christian non-fiction, which is certainly wonderful and spiritually challenging and uplifting, but at the same time it is there to challenge the heart and the soul rather than to stretch the brain.
On a good note, I'm beginning to feel as though this is my easiest semester yet. I think it is because for the first time in a long time, I have only two studio classes, which relieves a good deal of stress. However, the two that I have are those for which one may only accomplish any work within the classroom itself: weaving and ceramics. I do dread going to the art building late at night, and I wish my projects were portable so I could work on them in the comfort of my apartment or the Chris House, as I was able to for drawing, painting, and especially non-loom. I do enjoy every single class I am taking [a first]: weaving and ceramics; survey of crafts [sort of a history of crafts, although we're learning chronologically backwards from contemporary to ancient]; European Modernism, yoga, and geometry. Geometry may sound difficult, boring, "ugh oh no not math", etc., but it really is quite a wonderful class. The professor, Anke, is quite amicable. She will give the men in the class a hard time when they are trying to be funny, but she is quite a sweetheart to you if you are a sweetheart to her. She is so very German: a beautiful accent, square-framed glasses, always wearing black. The easiest part of her class is that we only accomplish about two or three constructions per hour class period, because she will go around to each individual to check and correct our work. We also get extra points if we colour things in nicely.
Spring Break planning I think is going well. I am in charge of games, initiatives, and fun activities. The big event we [Jake, Josh, and myself] are planning for is a massive secret for now we are calling "The Time of Interest". I'm quite excited about this. Yesterday Bridget brought in a Valentine card from Grandmom, which I expected would have the usualy $5 bill in it, but this time it was a check for $50! So thus the Lord has provided my $50 deposit for Spring Break. At the moment, I'm working on raising support for the $200 fee. Most of it is the cost of van rental and gas [50 hours+ in a 15 passenger van = buttloads of fuel], since a lot of the food comes from donations of supermarkets in the area. What we're doing on the trip is working at a home for kids called Watersprings Ranch, which is in Texarkana, Arkansas [it's on the border between Arkansas and Texas, just north of Louisiana... hence the name]. The Ranch has several log cabin homes where up to 8 kids stay with a set of house parents [one of whom is our former pastor and his wife]. The children stay at the ranch rather than several foster homes throughout their childhood so they can have a community and parents who love them the entire time growing up. They've been abandoned, abused, neglected, and some have biological parents in jail, which is why the Ranch provides them with a good home and a loving Christ-centred community. Our work for the week is to stain and seal the log cabins, repair fences and other damages that came with the hurricane last fall, and to hang out with the kids and love on 'em a lot. The other aspect of Spring Break is not simply a service-based mission trip, but also a retreat for personal growth and fellowship with other young adult believers from our church. Basically it's an all-around sweeeeeeet time. So I think I shall spend some of today working on support letters and thank-you notes to ask for funding, and more importantly for prayer. It's a long drive, we've never been there before, we don't know what the weather will be like, so we'll need to ask the Lord for safety. We'll want to bond closely with each other and with the kids that we meet, so we'll ask that Jesus open our hearts and minds to love one another as He loves us. I really want this to be one of the most important weeks of our lives: to be impacting others in the name of Christ and sharing His love with all.
Nearer than that is a high-school youth retreat at Krislund, which is supposed to happen next weekend. Tim had emailed me saying that it might not happen because the low numbers of sign-ups, but I'm really hoping that we reach the minimum number of participants, because it will be such a great time! Bridget, Nate, possibly Brandon, and I would be leading NiteFest - about which I'm quite excited, because I had a pretty decent songlist picked out. Tyler would come and be our power-point man, and I guess Tim and Steve would be leading most of the goingson. I hope the current weather doesn't deter folks from signing up; all those snow at camp would be such a fantastic time!! I would think the roads up there would be cleared by that time, anyway.
Well, I feel I've spent enough time on the internet for now. Time to go read [for school, for mind, and for soul], play in the snow, get ahead on my weaving and mould-making, and just enjoy a nice snow day!
Return to the LORD your God, for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. - Joel 2:13
They're these fascinating little candies that Missy and Allie have been selling to raise money to go to the big English majors' conference in Pittsburgh next month. These two had claimed that Wilbur Buds were better than Hershey Kisses, but I am not so sure of that. They're smaller and denser, and the machine squeezes the chocolate into little moulds that spell out WILBUR around the bottom, rather than kissing the conveyor belt to create the flat-bottomed Hershey's version. Now the dark chocolate Buds are quite tasty, and because of the density of the candy, it lasts a bit longer than a Kiss. However, the milk chocolate Buds have a sort of weird aftertaste that I don't so much care for, so Hershey wins there as well. Again, Kisses are larger, but less dense [I suppose they whip the chocolate more], and I have my loyalties to Hershey since they have provided me with many a free fun-size sample at Chocolate World over the years.
So apart from some relaxation and reading, I might like to go out and enjoy the beautiful weather - provided it doesn't begin sleeting again, of course. Perhaps Father John will open the House today and we can congregate for games and hot drinks and hopefully a decent dinner [if Ed can't make it, do we fend for ourselves?].
I had been thinking how much my brain has been able to rot since college has began. I am slightly jealous of Allie and Missy, being straight English majors, for all they do is read and write and expand their minds and their vocabularies. Although I've enjoyed the Crafts major tract, it hasn't done much to keep my noggin sharp. The only for-school reading I've done in the past 3 years has been textbook selections - mostly of art history. Outside of assignments, most of the reading I've done has been Christian non-fiction, which is certainly wonderful and spiritually challenging and uplifting, but at the same time it is there to challenge the heart and the soul rather than to stretch the brain.
On a good note, I'm beginning to feel as though this is my easiest semester yet. I think it is because for the first time in a long time, I have only two studio classes, which relieves a good deal of stress. However, the two that I have are those for which one may only accomplish any work within the classroom itself: weaving and ceramics. I do dread going to the art building late at night, and I wish my projects were portable so I could work on them in the comfort of my apartment or the Chris House, as I was able to for drawing, painting, and especially non-loom. I do enjoy every single class I am taking [a first]: weaving and ceramics; survey of crafts [sort of a history of crafts, although we're learning chronologically backwards from contemporary to ancient]; European Modernism, yoga, and geometry. Geometry may sound difficult, boring, "ugh oh no not math", etc., but it really is quite a wonderful class. The professor, Anke, is quite amicable. She will give the men in the class a hard time when they are trying to be funny, but she is quite a sweetheart to you if you are a sweetheart to her. She is so very German: a beautiful accent, square-framed glasses, always wearing black. The easiest part of her class is that we only accomplish about two or three constructions per hour class period, because she will go around to each individual to check and correct our work. We also get extra points if we colour things in nicely.
Spring Break planning I think is going well. I am in charge of games, initiatives, and fun activities. The big event we [Jake, Josh, and myself] are planning for is a massive secret for now we are calling "The Time of Interest". I'm quite excited about this. Yesterday Bridget brought in a Valentine card from Grandmom, which I expected would have the usualy $5 bill in it, but this time it was a check for $50! So thus the Lord has provided my $50 deposit for Spring Break. At the moment, I'm working on raising support for the $200 fee. Most of it is the cost of van rental and gas [50 hours+ in a 15 passenger van = buttloads of fuel], since a lot of the food comes from donations of supermarkets in the area. What we're doing on the trip is working at a home for kids called Watersprings Ranch, which is in Texarkana, Arkansas [it's on the border between Arkansas and Texas, just north of Louisiana... hence the name]. The Ranch has several log cabin homes where up to 8 kids stay with a set of house parents [one of whom is our former pastor and his wife]. The children stay at the ranch rather than several foster homes throughout their childhood so they can have a community and parents who love them the entire time growing up. They've been abandoned, abused, neglected, and some have biological parents in jail, which is why the Ranch provides them with a good home and a loving Christ-centred community. Our work for the week is to stain and seal the log cabins, repair fences and other damages that came with the hurricane last fall, and to hang out with the kids and love on 'em a lot. The other aspect of Spring Break is not simply a service-based mission trip, but also a retreat for personal growth and fellowship with other young adult believers from our church. Basically it's an all-around sweeeeeeet time. So I think I shall spend some of today working on support letters and thank-you notes to ask for funding, and more importantly for prayer. It's a long drive, we've never been there before, we don't know what the weather will be like, so we'll need to ask the Lord for safety. We'll want to bond closely with each other and with the kids that we meet, so we'll ask that Jesus open our hearts and minds to love one another as He loves us. I really want this to be one of the most important weeks of our lives: to be impacting others in the name of Christ and sharing His love with all.
Nearer than that is a high-school youth retreat at Krislund, which is supposed to happen next weekend. Tim had emailed me saying that it might not happen because the low numbers of sign-ups, but I'm really hoping that we reach the minimum number of participants, because it will be such a great time! Bridget, Nate, possibly Brandon, and I would be leading NiteFest - about which I'm quite excited, because I had a pretty decent songlist picked out. Tyler would come and be our power-point man, and I guess Tim and Steve would be leading most of the goingson. I hope the current weather doesn't deter folks from signing up; all those snow at camp would be such a fantastic time!! I would think the roads up there would be cleared by that time, anyway.
Well, I feel I've spent enough time on the internet for now. Time to go read [for school, for mind, and for soul], play in the snow, get ahead on my weaving and mould-making, and just enjoy a nice snow day!
Return to the LORD your God, for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. - Joel 2:13
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